diff --git a/.github/workflows/reusable-prepare-release.yml b/.github/workflows/reusable-prepare-release.yml
index c24d672..c068946 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/reusable-prepare-release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/reusable-prepare-release.yml
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ jobs:
           GITHUB_REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ACCESS_TOKEN }}
         run: |
-          npx git-cliff --config .change-log-config/src/cliff.toml --verbose --latest --strip all > pr_body_raw.md
+          npx git-cliff --config .change-log-config/src/cliff.toml --verbose --latest --strip all --tag-pattern '^v[0-9].*' > pr_body_raw.md
 
       - name: 📂 Save PR Body to File
         run: |
@@ -87,10 +87,10 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           if [ -f "CHANGELOG.md" ]; then
              # File exists: Prepend new changes (git-cliff intelligently handles headers).
-             npx git-cliff --config .change-log-config/src/cliff.toml --verbose --latest --prepend CHANGELOG.md
+             npx git-cliff --config .change-log-config/src/cliff.toml --verbose --latest --prepend CHANGELOG.md --tag-pattern '^v[0-9].*'
           else
              # File missing: Create new with full history and header.
-             npx git-cliff --config .change-log-config/src/cliff.toml --verbose --output CHANGELOG.md
+             npx git-cliff --config .change-log-config/src/cliff.toml --verbose --output CHANGELOG.md --tag-pattern '^v[0-9].*'
           fi
 
       - name: 🔄 Sync Commit and Push
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6a4a122..16b621a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,13 @@
 
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
+# [1.2.1](https://github.com/leoweyr/github-release-workflow/compare/v1.2.0...v1.2.1) (2026-04-23)
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* **prepare-release:** filter for `v*` tags in release workflow ([9cf4a09](https://github.com/leoweyr/github-release-workflow/commit/9cf4a099c38eef14c1fbcbd61f3d023bf6ad2493)) [@leoweyr](https://github.com/leoweyr)
+
+
+
 # [1.2.0](https://github.com/leoweyr/github-release-workflow/compare/v1.1.0...v1.2.0) (2026-04-05)
 ### Bug Fixes
 
diff --git a/src/cliff.toml b/src/cliff.toml
index ce34785..7bf5c08 100644
--- a/src/cliff.toml
+++ b/src/cliff.toml
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@ postprocessors = []
 
 
 [git]
+# pattern for matching git tags
+tag_pattern = "^v[0-9].*"
 conventional_commits = true
 filter_unconventional = true
 split_commits = false